Graduate Student Grants
NEW: Student Excellence Awards in Jewish Studies
Offered for the first time in academic year 2023-24, the Center’s Student Excellence Awards in Jewish Studies will recognize Carolina graduate students, and advanced undergraduates, that are doing exemplary work in a subfield of Jewish studies and are active participants in the Center’s programming. (Including participation with the Grad Student Network, attending lectures, lunch seminars and Jewish Studies Seminars, teaching or serving as a TA for courses cross-listed with JWST, serving as Uhlman Fellows in Jewish Studies Public Humanities, conducting independent undergraduate research, participating in a related undergraduate Study Abroad program, etc.) Each award amount is up to $2,000. Nominations from affiliated faculty members are due January 22, 2024. Grad Students may also self nominate. (Details and nomination form.) Please note: Grad Students that are supported with a TEP Fellowship or Dissertation Fellowship in 2023-24 are not eligible unless they are in the final year of their graduate program, and students must have completed at least one year of graduate study at Carolina and must be working in a subfield of Jewish studies at Carolina.
- The Jonathan M. Hess Student Excellence Award in Jewish Studies
- The Ruth von Bernuth Student Excellence Award in Jewish Studies
- The Christopher Browning Student Excellence Award in Jewish Studies
- The Marcie Cohen Ferris Student Excellence Award in Jewish Studies
Guidelines for Graduate Student Grants and Awards — 2023-2024
Thanks to generous private support, the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies is able to offer several different types of grants supporting graduate student research and travel, including:
- dissertation completion fellowship for 2024-25 – deadline January 22, 2024
- Jewish language instruction grants – deadlines September 27, 2023 and January 22, 2024
- summer stipends, including the Jack O. Spies and Family summer grant – deadline February 26, 2024
- several research and travel grants [listed below] – deadlines September 27, 2023 and February 26, 2024
- Uhlman Fellowship in Jewish Studies Public Humanities 2023-2024 – deadline February 26, 2024
- NEW: Student Excellence Awards in Jewish Studies – deadline January 22, 2024
NOTES:
We have set up an email account for our grants program. Please send grants-related questions to: grants_jewishstudies@unc.edu.
Any student applying for multiple types of grants can use the same letters of reference and DGS letters.
Visit our Uhlman Fellowship page for details on the program and application materials.
Dissertation Fellowship
Deadline: January 22, 2024 at 5:00pm
This non-service fellowship supports a promising Carolina graduate student working in Jewish Studies in the advanced stages of his or her career at Carolina. The Dissertation Fellowship enables a student to focus full time on scholarship, improving quality and shortening the time required to complete a Ph.D. degree. This fellowship is available to all students in doctoral programs at Carolina whose work makes a contribution to the interdisciplinary field of Jewish Studies. This fellowship is designed to support students during their final years of graduate study. Priority may be given to students with a formally approved dissertation prospectus, but students with a clearly defined project without an approved prospectus are also encouraged to apply. Awardees receive a competitive $23,000 stipend, plus payment for the three-credit dissertation tuition, fees, and health insurance for one academic year. NOTE: The Center’s TEP Fellows are not eligible for the Dissertation Completion Fellowship. Awardees will be scheduled to give an academic talk or seminar regarding their dissertation topic during the year they hold the fellowship.
Applications for the 2024-2025 Dissertation Completion Fellowship must be submitted through the online application. The application site opens December 1 and closes January 22, 5:00pm. Two letters of support from faculty and the DGS statement should be emailed to: grants_jewishstudies@unc.edu.
Summer Stipend 2024 (award amounts: up to $5,000)
Deadline: February 26, 2024, at 5:00pm
The purpose of this stipend is to provide support to graduate students working in Jewish Studies who normally do not have sources of support during the summer months. The summer stipend is designed to enable students to focus exclusively on their research and move forward more quickly toward the completion of their degree. Only Carolina students who will be fully enrolled for both the spring semester and fall semester before/after the summer of the award are eligible to apply. In order for the student to be able to devote her/himself exclusively to this summer research, it is expected that the student will not be enrolled in any courses or hold any TA, RA or other service position throughout the summer months.
Applications for the 2024 Summer Stipend must be submitted through the online application. The application site opens December 1 and closes February 26, 5:00pm. One letter of support from faculty and the DGS statement should be emailed to: grants_jewishstudies@unc.edu.
Research and travel grants (award amounts: $500-3,000)
Deadline: September 27, 2023 and February 26, 2024 at 5:00 pm
All research and travel grants will require a single application. By submitting this one application, the faculty review committee will consider your materials for all appropriate research and travel grants. These grants include: Carolina Center for Jewish Studies graduate research and travel grants, the Frances Carol Eizenstat student travel grant, and the Philip L. and the Melinda R. Kirstein research and travel grant. (Please note that the summer stipends and the year-long dissertation completion fellowship do require separate applications.)
With these grants, the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies supports graduate student research and travel, including travel to present papers at scholarly meetings. These grants can be used to reimburse travel costs pertaining to research projects and/or costs for materials required for research, as well as to reimburse costs for travel, room, board, and registration costs at domestic or international conferences. Applicants must be Carolina students working on a topic in Jewish Studies. Students applying for grants to present at a conference must already have a paper on a Jewish Studies topic accepted for delivery at an academic conference. Please note that for scholarly meetings, the maximum amount of support is $1,000 for a domestic conference and $2,000 for an international conference.
Applications for Research and Travel Grants must be submitted through the online application.
The application site closes September 27 and February 26, 5:00pm.
The Center’s research and travel grants using the same application include:
Carolina Center for Jewish Studies Research and Travel grants. Award amount: $500-3,000. For undergrad and grad student research and travel, for any subfield of Jewish studies.
Frances Carol Eizenstat Student Travel grant. Award amount: up to $3,000. With this grant, the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies supports undergraduate and graduate student travel to sites in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and around the world that are significant for understanding modern Jewish history.
And, Philip L. and Melinda R. Kirstein Research and Travel grant. Award amount: up to $2,500. With this grant, the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies supports undergraduate and graduate student research and travel in Jewish Studies with a preference for work on the Jewish experience in the American South.
Applications for Language Grants must be submitted through the online application. The application site closes September 27 and January 22, 5:00pm.
Note: fall semester grants typically support courses/workshops that occur in fall semester. For spring or summer courses/workshops, please apply in January.
Carolina Center for Jewish Studies, in collaboration with Carolina Public Humanities (CPH), is pleased to announce the establishment of a fellowship for graduate students in Jewish studies: Uhlman Fellowship in Jewish Studies Public Humanities. The Uhlman Fellowship program is made possible by a generous gift to the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies. Up to two Uhlman Fellows will be selected each academic year.
Applications for 2024-2025 academic year will be due February 26, 2024. Visit our Uhlman Fellowship page for details on the program.
Applications for the Uhlman Fellowship must be submitted as a PDF via email to the grants email account.